Daily Jumble: Edicion Sin Espanol

• Iraqis didn’t welcome American troops with flowers because what they wanted was cigarettes! “‘[Al Qaeda] said, ‘You gotta quit smoking,'” Thompson explained to a questioner asking about progress in Iraq during a town hall-style meeting.” [NYDN]

• “It seems safe to predict that Gore will not be endorsing the bid of the senator from New York.” [WP]

• “‘Bad relations?’ said a senior civilian official with a laugh. ‘That’s the understatement of the century. . . . If you think Armageddon was a riot, that’s one way of looking at it.'” Ha-ha. What’s really funny is that he’s not talking about relations between Iraqis, he’s talking relations between those making decisions about Iraqis. Hilarious! [WP]

• “It does seem clear [Bush] will no longer insist on ‘victory,’ in the way he used the term in 2005, before troops can come home. Something more akin to Nixon’s ‘Peace With Honor’ appears to be in the cards, officials say, rewritten and updated for a very different kind of war.” And to not sound so much like the Democrats he’s been accusing of selling out the troops. [NYT]

• Because the White House is the only group that sees withdrawal that way: “The public does not see withdrawal from Iraq as a signal America doesn’t support the troops. In fact, the public sees removing the troops from harm’s way and having them in a place where the mission is supported, welcomed and understood as the most proper way to support our troops.” [HuffPo]

• The Governator addresses the California GOP: “In movie terms, we are dying at the box office. We are not filling the seats.” The Bush administration: “Ishtar”! Arnold isn’t the first Republican I’ve heard talk about the party’s troubles as if it were a marketing problem and not one of ideology; there’s probably something to the idea that the GOP is not responding to “consumer” (voter) wishes, but this is one production that is not going to make up its losses in overseas revenue. [CNN]

• “While standing quietly waiting for Romney to appear, a gentleman approached me and said if I started any trouble I would be thrown out of the event…I was offended this gentleman would make such a blanket assumption about me. When I asked where he got the idea I would cause trouble, he stated it was his ‘intuition.'” [Concord Monitor, via Green Mountain Politics]

• Giuliani: “For me every day is an anniversary of Sept. 11.” And every inch of the U.S. is Ground Zero. No wonder he thinks he spent so much time there! [St. Pete Times]

• HRC flack: “Voters aren’t looking for which Democrat can launch the angriest attacks on other Democrats.” Which is funny, because I sort of am! But what Hillary is actually betting on is that voters are looking for which Democrat can launch the coldest, most calculatingly devastating attacks on other Democrats. [WP]